 Hello, Edexcel gang and welcome back to yet another GCSE revision lesson. Now lots of you wanted me to go over the English literature paper one exam. This is the assessment where you are tested on both Shakespeare as well as a modern text. You've got to answer three questions in one hour, 45 minutes now. This paper can be challenging because basically you need to be really, really careful with how you manage yourself with timings and of course also you've got lots of quotations you need to have memorized especially for part B of section A which is the Shakespeare stuff as well as the third question which is to do with your modern text and of course you need to remember context and so on. So before we dive into a model answer that I've prepared let's begin by quickly talking about timings and how to manage yourself throughout this exam. Now remember with the Shakespeare part which is in section A in case this is the first part of the exam you have two sections or two questions that you need to answer. You've got part A which is related to the extract that you're given in front of you and then part B which is related thematically to something that's gone on in part A and then you've got to answer an essay based on that but you're talking about what's going on elsewhere in the play. How do you manage your timings? My suggestion is you spend around 55 minutes on section A okay so you're doing 55 minutes for the two questions this is the two Shakespeare questions. Remember to spend the initial 10 minutes of this 55 minutes reading through both questions okay highlighting the key words also highlighting what you're going to use from the extract and then also jotting down your memorized quotations which are relevant to that question okay that's your first 10 minutes and then that would leave you with around 22 minutes to write out your response for part A of the question this is the extract and then 22 minutes for part B you're splitting your time equally because they're both worth 20 months in terms of the questions okay now when it comes to the second part of the exam don't forget you've got the modern text to think about you should allocate around 50 minutes to this question it's just one essay question you're given a choice pick one don't do both then spend around 10 minutes planning your response for that question and then of course the remaining 40 minutes writing out and writing through your response. Now within this particular lesson I want to go over Macbeth specifically and this is section A of the English Literature Paper one okay so I'm going to be focusing in on this lesson specifically on Macbeth and how to write model answers for both part A and part B of this exam. As I mentioned you want to allocate around 55 minutes on this question remember for section A so this is the first half of the question where you've got the extract this tests your AO2 skills okay so this is your awareness of a language form instruction of course also AO1 where you're able to identify and interpret what's going on in the extract and answer the question accurately that's part A however remember part B which is the way you've got the general question and then you've got to think about quotations from elsewhere in the play this tests your AO3 your awareness of context as well as themes okay so don't mention context in part A part A you just keep that for your analysis and a close language analysis of the extract and then part B that's where you're talking about context as well as themes my suggestion in terms of structuring your response is for part A start with just a nice intro talking about you know the keywords within the question and then choosing at least a minimum of three quotations from the beginning middle and end of the extract answering using those to answer the questions and of course using really good language and structure techniques then for part B which is just the general question try to start off with a nice introduction think about three quotations from elsewhere do not use quotations from the extract it will be interpreted as quite lazy okay this is where you're showing off your knowledge of the play and what you remember in relation to the keywords in the question so start off with your introduction then at least three pure paragraphs related to what's going on elsewhere in the play make sure you include context and theme in your points and then finish off with a conclusion so now let's dive into a model response that I have prepared more specifically for the 2021 edXcel pass paper question okay so I'm going to be answering the question that appeared in the 2021 exam which is available to download for free on edXcel's website and also by the way guys what I've also included if you just look at the link is a free context sheet related to mcbeth okay so if you need to kind of brush up on okay I've kind of forgotten some stuff to do with context you can literally download that for free and then use that to kind of brush up on your knowledge okay so let's dive into a model response I've prepared for this 2021 exam so let's dive into how to answer this exam paper remember you always get an extract for part a but then of course you then have a general question for part b now what I would suggest is first begin by reading the questions getting lay of the land and especially when you read part b you have this in the back of your mind as you're answering part a of this question okay or rather of this portion of the exam so let's have a look at part a first off you're asked to explore how Shakespeare presents the character of Duncan in this extract refer closely to the extract in your answer okay so of course with this question you're being asked to focus solely on King Duncan's character and within this portion of the exam you need to make sure you have lots of language form and structure observations that's for part a but let's have a look at part b in this extract Duncan's ambition is to be an honorable king who rewards loyalty interesting explain the importance of ambition keywords and the question elsewhere in the play in your answer you must consider where ambition is shown and also the the effects ambition has within the play you must refer to the context of the play in your answer so remember in part b even if they tell you that in the extract that goes before we're looking at King Duncan's ambition actually you definitely are not expected to use the extract for part b part a is the extract but then part b you can't be lazy and just only rely on the extract you have to show your awareness of elsewhere in the play with your memorized quotations and make sure it's related to the theme of ambition and how it's shown okay so let's dive into literally reading through the extract and then i'll show you what my thought process would be as i'm finding my three quotations i'm going to talk about when answering this part of the paper so let's have a look at the question itself we are told that this is taken from act one scene four from lines 11 to 43 in this extract Duncan describes how distressed he is with the traitor the Thane of Cordo and thanks Macbeth and Banquo for the part in play they played in defeating the rebels okay so of course here this is the part after the war is over Macbeth and Banquo have played a massive hand in winning this war for king Duncan king Duncan here is now rewarding them so let's have a look at what king Duncan says Duncan there's no art to find the mind's construction in the face he was a gentleman and who not a built an absolute trust here what he's basically saying is he finds it difficult to tell what people are thinking when he just looks at their face and to Macbeth Banquo Ross and Angus to Macbeth over this cousin the sin of mind gratitude is now even now was heavy on me thou art so far before that swifter swing of recompense is slow to overtake thee what's thou had less deserved that the portion both of thanks and payment might have been mine only have left to say more is thy due more than more than all can pay so at first king Duncan is reflecting he's thinking oh my gosh I'm so bad at telling you know what people think just by looking at their face in other words what he's admitting is he's a little bit gullible if somebody's smiling in his face he literally thinks oh they really like me and this is what the previous saint of corridor did leading to his betrayal but then here when Macbeth enters he's basically showing a lot of gratitude he's basically telling Macbeth look I'm so happy I wish you know I could do something to show you that I'm so sorry I should have given you this you know I should have promoted you and given you even more power before because you're such an amazing general basically that's all he's saying here and of course as you're going through this you're picking out techniques okay so of course here when he talks about the mind's construction on the face this is a metaphor here when he's talking and saying oh where this cousin is speaking using exclamatory sentence remember an exclamatory sentence is a sentence that ends with an exclamation mark showing someone is shouting and then he says you know um more is thy do more than all can pay so here this is what we call a comparative adjective he's basically telling Macbeth look I'm so happy for all you've done I don't even know if I can do enough to repay you for the work that you've done in fighting and winning the war against the thing of cordel Macbeth the service and the loyalty I owe in doing it pays itself your highness's part is to receive our duties Macbeth is just basically saying look I'm just doing my job and our duties are to your throne and state children and servants which do but they should by doing everything safe toward your love and honor basically Macbeth is saying look I'm just doing my job you know um I'm serving you as king I don't expect any reward or any payment but thanks so much for you recognizing me then Duncan says welcome hither so he says welcome I began to plant thee and will labor to make the full growing so here king Duncan is using imagery related to growth and nature okay so this is language that belongs to the semantic field of nature again this is a language technique remember xametry centers is a structure technique anyway he's basically using language uh belongs to semantic field of nature to show that he wants to you know really really nurture Macbeth he's like oh my gosh you're so amazing and you know um I'm gonna do my best to make you grow into you know the royal title I'm gonna be giving you noble Banquo and then he now turns to Banquo that has no less deserved nor must be known no less have done so let me unfold thee and hold thee to my heart right so here again he basically he turns to Macbeth and says you know I definitely need to I want to nurture you you're amazing you're such a great general but also he turns to Banquo and says I also want to reward you for your efforts and here he speaks using alliteration of H hold and heart what we can see here is he is a very generous king he rewards all of his men okay now let's carry on Banquo there if I grow the harvest is your own and also Banquo is just like Macbeth is like no no no it's fine you know you don't have to promote me I'm just doing my job Duncan my plentious joys wanton and fullness seek to hide themselves in drops of sorrow sons kinsman staines so now he addresses everybody he holds court right holds court means he is he has a lot of command he has a commanding presence right so he holds court and Shakespeare uses listing more specifically ascended listing without any and or but or because right to show that king Duncan you know he's holding court and you whose places are the nearest no we will establish our state upon our eldest Malcolm so now he's telling everybody look I'm gonna put my trust in Malcolm whom we name here after the prince of cumberland so he's basically saying you know I'm giving Malcolm my eldest son this title the prince of cumberland which honor must not an accompanied invest him only but signs of nobleness like stars shall sign shine on all deserve us to Macbeth from hence to Iviness bind us further to you so he basically tells everybody look Malcolm um he's going to be prince but also uh just so you guys know he's also going to be my heir right if anything happens to me Malcolm is going to take over then he turns to Macbeth and says great let's now go and visit your place and you know um I'm coming over to visit you as a way to say thanks for all the amazing work you have done okay now in terms of answering this question I would just look for so this is to do with the character of Duncan I would look for three points something from the beginning middle and end to illustrate how his character is shown I definitely my first point is definitely going to be related to this metaphor we can see here that actually this is one of his flaws as a leader we can see that king Duncan is very trusting but also this means he's quite gullible of course what this does is it foreshadows how he's betrayed later on in the play by this the thane of cordal right so the first thing of cordal mcdonald betrays him but then Macbeth betrays him and kills him okay so this is the first thing I'll probably talk about equally what I'm probably going to talk about from towards the middle is king Duncan's use of this exclamatory sentence coupled perhaps with his use of the semantic field of nature to illustrate that he's really generous he's somebody that really wants to nurture his men okay so that will be my second point that I'll talk about when considering the character of Duncan the final bit so this is now from towards the end of the extract I'm probably going to use or mention how king Duncan holds court he's quite commanding as a leader okay we can see here that everybody respects him and of course under his leadership Scotland is strong okay it stays powerful and you know um we get the sense that Scotland remains undefeated as a country okay those would be the three things I'll talk about when I'm looking at this extract so I'm going to dive into answering this question before I move on to part b so let's begin by examining the model answer that I prepared for part a now as I mentioned for the first half of the question part a start off with a nice introduction to show you have a handle of what you need to discuss but also it's a nice way of easing your examiner into what you're going to be discussing especially the three main points you're going to take from the extract so let's have a look at my brief introduction within the extract Shakespeare presents king Duncan as a righteous leader who rewards his men he's evidently pleased with the sacrifices mcbeth and banco made and their concerted efforts to win the war concerted means the working together rather than hoarding power rather than keeping power to himself he rewards and promotes them hence we can see he's generous nevertheless he openly admits that he is gullible evidently his fatal flaw is his inability to look beyond surface appearances and this leads others to betray him so from the opening I have begun by talking generally about the three points I'm going to talk about okay so how is the character of Duncan shown firstly he's illustrated as being quite a generous leader he's actually quite good in rewarding his men but the sad thing is he is very gullible he easily believes people based on the surface appearances that's my introduction however now I'm going to go into my first point and by the way bear in mind when it comes to actually stretching my paragraphs are always good for appeal paragraph structure point evidence explanation link okay so this is my first paragraph related to the extract first the king Duncan dispress expresses deep disappointment in the previous stain of cordal so I'm starting off from the opening of the extract he considers his betrayal and king Duncan openly admits that he easily trusts others meaning we can see he's not a very discerning character when you're discerning that means you're able to look beyond just people's surface appearances and you're able to think mmm actually is there something that's being hidden okay that's my opening point I've added two sentences to explain and elaborate how king Duncan's character is shown now here's my evidence he acknowledges that there's no art to find the mind's construction in the face taken from this opening part as I mentioned I'm going to work through the extract taking some from the beginning middle and end so I've taken this quotation here now let's have a look at how I'm now going to start racking up points especially for my AO2 this is the language form and structure side of your essay okay this is for part one or for part a Shakespeare's metaphor is especially powerful in revealing king Duncan finds it tough to understand the mind's construction of embedded that quotation and he trusts surface appearances too easily the noun face now I'm zooming in on one particular word conveys how he quickly trusts others and assumes their loyal based on superficial appearances superficial means just surface again in my explanation which is the where the bulk of your mocks are because you're really analyzing and going into detail especially when it comes to language and structure I am analyzing and talking about how is king Duncan's character shown and I'm going into more detail now here's my link therefore king Duncan is depicted as a gullible character we realize that we realize this is his fatal flaw so the thing that leads to his downfall that other characters will use against him that's my link back to the question now moving on to my second peel paragraph point evidence explanation link moreover as the extra progresses we can see king Duncan is incredibly grateful and giving he expresses shame at not having promoted Macbeth before this battle so we see him as humble as well as nurturing that's my opening point I'm working through the extract he's embarrassed when he addresses his worthiest cousin exclamation mark yet he promises to plant the and make the full of growing so what I've done here is within the extract I've taken a little bit from here but also a little bit from here to mention and to obviously illustrate that I'm working through the extract and I'm picking something now from towards the middle here's my explanation king Duncan is uh or rather um Shakespeare so now this is where my explanation starts Shakespeare's exclamatory sentence structure because I'm talking about sentence type cousin reveals how overwhelmed king Duncan is with Macbeth's loyalty to him he is a humble yet nurturing king and he uses language belonging to the semantic field of nature language technique including plant and growing to show that he will guide and nurture Macbeth as he develops as one of his most valued men that's my explanation here's my link consequently we realize he's a righteous character this is king Duncan he is quick to praise Macbeth and criticise his own slowness in promoting him that's my link back to the question now I need to make sure with my final peel paragraph I'm picking something from towards the end thus I'm showing that I've worked through the entire extract I'm not being lazy and only selecting quotations from limited parts of the extract so this is my final point before I finish part a of this question finally not only is king Duncan presented as generous given he promotes banquo but he's also well respected he easily holds court and the men respect his decision to make his son prince and heir hear what I'm saying is that king Duncan he has a lot of authority and a lot of power king Duncan addresses all the sons kinsman tains present as he makes Malcolm the prince I've taken evidence from towards the end here's my explanation Shakespeare employs a syndetine which is listing listing without any commerce or rather listing without any connectives it's only commerce okay so this is listing without uh connectives so Shakespeare uses a syndetine to illustrate how king Duncan confidently speaks to the men who are present he is evidently in full control of all his subjects and we can see that the court this is everybody present there silently listens to his decrees his orders here's my link therefore king Duncan is depicted as a giving yet dominant leader he holds court effortlessly and under his leadership Scotland wins wars meaning his men respect and revere him here's my link back to the question I have now completed my response on the character of Duncan within this extract however of course now I need to move on to part b where i'm thinking about elsewhere in the play okay and of course in this case we're told okay in this extract Duncan's ambition is to be an honorable king and who rewards loyalty explain the importance of ambition elsewhere remember that even if there are some characters like king Duncan who illustrate the positive side of ambition honestly this play is about the destructive side of ambition so when i'm thinking about where ambition is shown and how effects of ambition is shown within the play I will probably talk about how ambition is shown in mcbeth where at first when he doesn't have any ambition he's described as oh for brave mcbeth well he deserves that name but then when once he develops ambition he you know even once he kills the king he says i'm afraid to look on what i've done right he then also talks about will all Neptune's ocean wash his blood from my hands here we can see that ambition has very negative effects on him it actually becomes his fatal flaw his haemacia okay this means that ambition leads him to make a series of mistakes and errors that leads to his downfall also ambition is shown quite negatively when it comes to the character of lady mcbeth so definitely my other point will be to do with lady mcbeth and how even from the start when we meet her she's totally corrupted with ambition she calls in the spirits she says unsex me here what this is illustrating is her ambition is so vivid and so powerful that she's willing to even be transformed into a man in order to literally become king herself okay so if it takes her being a man doing the killings herself she's basically saying i'm happy to do that okay she she actually sees the femininity it's something that's really annoying and this is due to her own personal ambition the other thing i'll probably talk about is how lady mcbeth's ambition leads her to dominate her husband she even goes as far as questioning his masculinity in order to make him kill the king the final character i'll probably talk about are characters are the witches who definitely recognize the destructive impact of ambition in fact they know it's so destructive and so good and causing chaos that they decide to plant these seeds of ambition in mcbeth's mind again what this is illustrating is ambition largely apart from say the case of king duncan it's largely presented as a really destructive force i'm going to talk about in my three separate paragraphs mcbeth lady mcbeth and the witches i'll start off with my introduction quotations from elsewhere in the play relating to my main point so this is my main three points and my main three pill paragraphs and then i'll end with a conclusion and as i've mentioned i've already done that so let's read through my model response on how ambition is shown elsewhere in the play pay attention to the fact that i literally never use any of the quotations from the extract because that's not what you're supposed to do in this part of the question so i'll start off with my introduction whilst ambition is presented as a positive motivating force for king duncan ambition is arguably presented as destructive force by shakespeare indeed once ambition is planted in mcbeth's mind it leads him to betray the king and it becomes his hamsher good word to use fatal flaw that leads to his ruin lady mcbeth is equally presented as being corrupted with ambition and the witches wreak chaos in scotland by influencing mcbeth to develop his sense of ambition i've basically summarized what i'm going to talk about in the remaining part of my essay now moving on to point number one or paragraph number one this is the mcbeth paragraph firstly ambition is important is an important central theme which spurs the tragedy in this play remember that ambition spurs the tragedy it pushes the tragedy forward before being ambitious mcbeth was valiant and loyal yet ambition had disastrous effects on him as it led him to become weak and paranoid that's my opening point to do with ambition and how it destroys mcbeth here's my evidence prior to meeting the witches we learned that brave mcbeth was talented and skilled general nonetheless his ambition reduced him to a fearful person as he was afraid to think what i have done after he killed the king i've used the quotation break brave mcbeth from act one scene two and then from act two scene two i've used another quotation to show that mcbeth once he kills the king he's now really really afraid and afraid and paranoid here's my explanation it's clear that ambition corrupted mcbeth and made him a shadow of his former self he went from being brave to becoming afraid as a result of disrupting the great chain of being by killing the king now here i'm using racking up a o three points i'm talking about context shakesburg wish to show the destructive effects of regicide it led mcbeth to violate divine right of kings and his awareness of his sacrilege sacrilege means you're acting against god led him to grow paranoid of god's punishment here in my explanation i've talked about context i've really made it clear that i'm mentioning great chain of being as well as divine right of kings here's my link hence ambition damages mcbeth it leads him to commit regicide and he constantly becomes a paranoid frightened man who destroys scotland with his tyranny so this is my first point to do with ambition after my introduction here's my second point additionally ambition is presented as a dark force which has corrupted lady mcbeth now this is my lady mcbeth point she earns to become powerful leading her to go against her nature as a woman that's my second point here's my evidence she calls on you spirits to unsex me she even goes as far as manipulating mcbeth claiming second bit of evidence when you just do it then you were a man as you can see i've taken something from act one scene five and then later on from act one scene seven where firstly lady mcbeth is shown as wanting to you know change her gender but then later she also is shown as using mcbeth's masculinity as a way to force him to kill the king here's now my explanation with my a03 it's clear that ambition contaminated lady mcbeth's heart she wanted power so much that she was willing to be transformed into a man if that would help her gain power ambition leads her to use mcbeth to gain power as she forces him to prove his masculinity by killing the king this contextually led many jacobians to see her as the fourth witch as she went against expectations of how typical women acted at the time rather than being passive and submissive to mcbeth she was domineering and commanding masterminding the plot to kill the king again here's my explanation i've gone into lots of detail i've added lots of context as well and added and gotten those extra a03 points consequently now i'm linking back to the question we can see ambition makes lady mcbeth malevolent which means evil and evil she sees her femininity as a weakness and she uses her husband as a tool to gain power here's my link back to the question now this is my final point before i conclude finally ambition plays a central role in unleashing chaos and destruction in scotland the witches recognize ambition as a unique damaging force and they deliberately plant the seeds of ambition mcbeth to create third point now i'm talking about the witches how they're showing ambition is still quite bad they wait until the hurly burly is over before they meet with mcbeth so i've taken something from act one scene one when they're talking about hurly burly as well as when they're talking about meet with mcbeth they're not at once they encounter mcbeth they proclaim hell mcbeth king hereafter so i've added three quotations hurly burly meet with mcbeth and hell mcbeth king hereafter taking from act one scene three i'm showing my understanding and my memorized quotations across the play here's my explanation the witches clearly understand the poor ambition had on people they deliberately caused mcbeth to become ambitious so that he can cause wanton chaos in scotland wanton means unnecessary their presence would have been a bad omen a bad symbol for shakespeare's jackabye an audience context a03 in fact even king james the first of england was so frightened of witches he wrote demonology that's the book that he wrote as a way of warning readers against trusting them as they would reverse the natural order so i've added lots and lots of context here now linking back therefore the witches deliberately disrupt the natural order in scotland by causing mcbeth's ambition to grow they recognize it as a terrible force and they gleefully use it to create chaos in scotland that's my link back to the question now i finish off by concluding in conclusion it's clear that ambition is largely presented as a destructive force when used for righteous purposes for example by king duncan ambition led scotland to be a powerful state so i'm nodding back to the question which is basically talking about king duncan's ambition to be an honorable king okay so i'm still mentioning that to show that yep i understand what the question was mentioning yet ambition is largely misused by many characters in the play it corrupts both mcbeth and lady mcbeth leading them to commit treason and mislead scotland similarly the witches use ambition to cause to create chaos and division which ultimately causes tragedy in the play so that's essentially how to write a four mark response for both part a and part b of the mcbeth question and this is for the english literature paper one assessments okay i hope this has helped and thank you so much for listening